Quantitative Methods in Regional Science 36 A PERMUTATION APPROACH TO EXAMINE THE SATISFACTION OF THE ITALIAN POPULATION TOWARDS TRANSPORT SERVICE

When public transport system represents a primary need for citizens, the analysis of users’ satisfaction is of the utmost importance to offer and obtain an efficient service. It is clear that a customer will be "satisfied", if his expectations are met and will be" disappointed", if his needs are ignored. In the transport field, the formulation and the definition of organizational and operational criteria are essential requisites to improve service quality. Restoring and improving modes and procedures will certainly guarantee an increasing efficiency, but the evaluation of customer satisfaction has been gaining more and more importance in order to achieve such a goal: different transport companies have been able to set such quality standards not only thanks to their own abilities, but also by taking into account specific service needs, directly expressed by customers through an adequate monitoring process. With this paper our aim is to make a study that analizes the satisfaction of the Italian population using transport service. With a particular reference to "Buses," "Coaches" and "Trains", we are going to evaluate the proportion of satisfied public transport users according to ISTAT indicators (frequency, punctuality and seats availability) both in regional and in geographical divisions. The methodology used is based on permutation tests.